Wheelchair - hire or buy?

minnie123

It sounds like people have been lucky getting wheelchairs my 86 yr old grandad has one leg missing, and the other leg was fractured at the top a couple of months ago. He can barely walk has told he has to go on a waiting list - this was basically going to take months so we had to buy him one. I also tried the red cross and they didn't have any available at that time.

Oh yeah they did get him a frame and the legs on it are all bent and wonky - we are waiting for a new one it's been 4 weeks now.

mime20

Try Gumtree or Freecycle - I have seen wheelchairs offered for free on both - and my Mum got her 3 wheel walker free from a nice lady on Gumtree (the only time I've seen a walker offered though).
Actually if you can get the loan of a walker/rollator that might be a good compromise, especially if it's one with a seat.
As others have said depending on where you live it can take a long time to be assessed by local care services, so by all means apply now, but be on the lookout elsewhere.

ladylumps45

hi, my doctor wrote to a company and they supplied me with a wheelchair free of charge. i never had an assessment so i must have been lucky.my nan has borrowed one from red cross and they were brilliant

elsien

We were told in our area that you were a priority for a wheelchair through the NHS if you needed to use it indoors, but there was a 12 months wait if you needed "just" for going out with. Sounds to me like there's a bit of a postcode lottery going on again.
And the NHS don't do powered wheelchairs, so it depends if you are able to manouevre it yourself or will have someone to help you.
Our main problems have been kerbs, but a complaint to the council got dropped kerbs put in within 2 weeks which was great, and getting on and off buses, even the ones that lower themselves. However on the whole people are really helpful if you get stuck (this is from the point of view of me as a useless person pushing it, rather than the wheelchair user) and from a quality of life point of view it made a huge difference.
The other point, daft though it may sound, is brakes. We bought a wheelchair which just had brakes on the wheels for "parking" so when a small person (me) was going down a steep hill with a larger person in the chair, it kind of ran away with me and there was nothing I could do about it. Many wheelchairs don't have brakes on the handles for the person pushing it to use ( also helps massively with the steering as well as not killing people!), and we had to pay a fortune for them to be fitted later. We just didn't think about it when we bought the thing.
Also if you're going to be using the wheelchair on the streets a lot think about getting solid tyres, we were getting a puncture every few weeks when we had the tyres with inner tubes.
Hope this helps, not trying to put you off, but you may as well benefit from all my idiotic mistakes!

pipkin71

elsien wrote: »

We were told in our area that you were a priority for a wheelchair through the NHS if you needed to use it indoors, but there was a 12 months wait if you needed "just" for going out with. Sounds to me like there's a bit of a postcode lottery going on again.
And the NHS don't do powered wheelchairs, so it depends if you are able to manouevre it yourself or will have someone to help you.
Our main problems have been kerbs, but a complaint to the council got dropped kerbs put in within 2 weeks which was great, and getting on and off buses, even the ones that lower themselves. However on the whole people are really helpful if you get stuck (this is from the point of view of me as a useless person pushing it, rather than the wheelchair user) and from a quality of life point of view it made a huge difference.
The other point, daft though it may sound, is brakes. We bought a wheelchair which just had brakes on the wheels for "parking" so when a small person (me) was going down a steep hill with a larger person in the chair, it kind of ran away with me and there was nothing I could do about it. Many wheelchairs don't have brakes on the handles for the person pushing it to use ( also helps massively with the steering as well as not killing people!), and we had to pay a fortune for them to be fitted later. We just didn't think about it when we bought the thing.
Also if you're going to be using the wheelchair on the streets a lot think about getting solid tyres, we were getting a puncture every few weeks when we had the tyres with inner tubes.
Hope this helps, not trying to put you off, but you may as well benefit from all my idiotic mistakes!

Thanks for that elsien :beer:

welshman1982

Hia Pipkin71. Just thought I'd add some of my words of wisdom as a wheelchair user. With the NHS its definately a postcode lottery. As of July 2007 I was no longer able to walk. Was told I'd be in a wheelchair for life and had to start using one immediately. I thought the NHS would provide me with one. Not the case down here in South Wales. First I needed to have an assessment from the wheelchair service (this happened in March 2008) and finally got my wheelchair from them last week (March 2009) so not the quickest of things to get out of the NHS. After being told of the likely long wait I took the plunge of buying one. A self propelling wheelchair that would be suitable for myself cost me just under £800. I'd never used a wheelchair or anything apart from crutches before so was kinda in the dark on it all. I thought about hiring one which I did at first. It was about £15 a week but if nothing esle I'd get to find out if I could manage a self propelling wheelchair or not. I didn't want to pay out all that money and find that I couldn't use the thing.

Indoors wasn't too bad atall but outdoors was a whole different story. I could manage in a supermarket as the floors are all level but for just going out and about around town etc I found it impossible. You don;t realise until you try using a wheelchair how hard it is. The pot holes, lack of dropped kerbs, places you can't get into because of steps etc. I had to conede defeat and keep my wheelchair for indoors and use at work. I wanted something which was easy to use around the shops/out and about and that could be easily transported in my car aswell. I ended up using a mobility scooter. Wasn't keen at first but now its great. Their are so many different ones avilable and they come in all shapes and sizes depending on what you want it for. My mobility scooter really has given me a new lease of life. Being able to go out like I did before the wheelchair and not being dependeant on other people. You can even get ones with a huge distance range on them if you wanted one instead of a car for getting around locally.

Before buying anything its like getting a car, you want to test things out and see how you get on before parting with any cash. I don;t know where you are but in most lare towns they operate a ShopMobility scheme. I paid something like £5 to join fo a year then every time I wanted to use one of their mobility scooters its £1.

Hope this is of some help and happy hunting.

pipkin71

Thankyou for that welshman.

I will be using a wheelchair for the first time this week and I'm a bit apprehensive about it, even though I know it will make things easier. To begin with - at least until I've had the assessment - we're going to hire the chair.

I am worried about how easy it will be to manage outside, but we shall see. Hopefully it will mean I can get out more as it's very frustrating not being able to go out and feeling completely exhausted when I do.

I will still be taking the crutches and walking as much as I can as I don't want to become reliant on the chair, but do think it will be a big help and mean I can spend longer outside on the days I do manage to get out.

elsien

Hope your trial goes well, and here's to getting out and about. :beer:

MrsE_2

Hi Pip

Will it be powered or will you have to wheel it, I should imagine its exhausting wheeling yourself? If they don't supply (or like supplying) powered ones, make sure you point out you are a loan parent & the only adult in the house.
I know nothing about this side of social services, just thinking out loud.

Don't feel down about it, it might only be temporary anyway.
Car drivers are all lazy bu66ers who sit on their bums to get about:o

Explore ALL avenues (but don't let the right hand know what the left hand is doing) & see who comes up with the best deal.

MrsE:grouphug:

pipkin71

MrsE wrote: »

Hi Pip

Will it be powered or will you have to wheel it, I should imagine its exhausting wheeling yourself? If they don't supply (or like supplying) powered ones, make sure you point out you are a loan parent & the only adult in the house.
I know nothing about this side of social services, just thinking out loud.

Don't feel down about it, it might only be temporary anyway.
Car drivers are all lazy bu66ers who sit on their bums to get about:o

Explore ALL avenues (but don't let the right hand know what the left hand is doing) & see who comes up with the best deal.

MrsE:grouphug:

Thanks hunny.

My dear friend will be pushing on this occassion, but the plan is a walk along the river Avon :eek: :eek: :eek: I should perhaps take a towel

We're going to hire through shopmobility just to try it out. I do feel a bit down about it because it makes me feel old and useless but I've missed being able to get out for the day and if the chair makes it possible then I need to look at it positively.

Once I know what the best option is / how long I will need it for, then I can make a decision. I've come across a hire company which will cost £12 a week for 12 weeks then £6 per week after. If anything happens to the chair, I assume they replace with another Then again, if I purchase outright then the chair's mine, but it also means I would be responsible for maintenance.

The shopmobility scheme welshman mentioned definitely sounds good - not sure what I would be like on a scooter though